Kumble is 'polished, cool and composed' - GR Viswanath

The appointment of Anil Kumble as India coach has received a lot of positive feedback. Legendary India batsman GR Viswanath likes him for his "engineering brain" and polished approach. Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad hailed his "integrity and tactical shrewdness."

"I have watched Anil from his under-19 days, from the beginning, to playing for Karnakata and then playing for India and captaining," Viswanath told ESPNcricinfo. "He has done everything in a meticulous way. Typical engineering brain."

Despite being "very, very aggressive" on the field, Viswanath felt Kumble has always conducted himself with dignity. "In a very polished, cool and composed way, he can handle any situation. He is, of course, very well-mannered. [An example is] the way he handled the situation [Monkeygate] in Australia as captain. Everything is going well for him, and with him having been a mentor already for a couple of teams in the IPL, it's a very good choice."

Srinath felt Kumble's biggest asset is his ability to spot and nurture raw talent. "I think he is a man with tremendous integrity. It's about getting stuck. Basically, the never-say-die attitude is quite strong in Anil. He has the mind for all formats of the game, which is very crucial to be consistent with the boys. Apart from that, the technical inputs, the strategy and analysis comes naturally to Anil.

"I think it's a good decision by the panel to pick his name and a good process was adopted. The one good thing is he is quite close to this generation of cricketers."

Srinath, who served as secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association when Kumble was elected president in 2010, said Kumble was a consummate professional. "He will never be a media-savvy person in the sense he will never communicate too many things [to the media]," he said. "He gets on with the job. He will make sure he is at it all the time. He is somebody who will be on the field and with the boys all the time."

Prasad, who was also part of Kumble's administration at KSCA, said Kumble's tactical sharpness would help take India to the next level. "It's amazing for the simple reason that he has not only proven himself as a cricketer, he has also proven himself as a leader," he said. "If I had known that he had also applied or he was going to apply I would have withdrawn my application.

"As a bowling coach, I have worked with him when he was a player and captain. He is tactically outstanding. That's what made him a huge success as a player and that's exactly brings to the table. These are exciting times for Indian cricket."

India's Test captain Virat Kohli was among the well-wishers too. He tweeted, "heartiest welcome, Anil Kumble sir. Look forward to your tenure with us. Great things in store for Indian Cricket with you."